Thomas Shewmake Has Leader

Greg Hicks

09/13/2001

Thomas Shewmake is a promising big man with a terrific upside. He's shown steady improvement in the last six months and is probably one of the bigger sleepers in the west. He told us recently that a WCC school leads for his services...

Thomas Shewmake, 6-9 C Cathedral City (Calif.) High, had a terrific summer and continues to improve with each passing day. We think he's one of the more under-recruited players in the west this year.

We spoke with Thomas recently and he gave us an update on his recruitment. He told us that Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside came in for in-home visits this week. He has more in-homes scheduled with Pacific (9-14), Pepperdine (9-18) and Utah St. (9-20). Thomas has already taken unofficial visits to Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine.

When asked if he had a leader, Thomas said "I like all of the schools recruiting me, but Pepperdine is probably my leader. I like the situation there and how I would fit in. They've brought in another big man who can play the five, and I'd play the four, so it looks like a good situation. We'll have a chance to play together."

We asked Thomas if he had thought about the timing of his decision and he replied, "I'm leaning to getting it over with. I'd prefer to sign in the fall if I think it's the right situation."